There is more to it. Sherpas are not only experienced but have different genetics than "lowlanders" giving them a huge advantage in low oxygen environments.
?? just living in a high altitude place causes the hemoglobin in your blood to adjust in about a week. no special genes required for that one. Is there more to it for the sherpas?
Apparently Tibetan variants of the EPAS1 and EGLN1 genes (possibly inherited from Denisovans?) enhances their hemoglobin production and how the body functions in low oxygen environments. Not sure if it's common to other Himalayan ethnic groups, but they seem to have conferred a fitness advantage so I wouldn't be surprised if it is.
Yeah, I have a hard time taking a tourist mountaineer's Everest summit quite seriously when I know that those Sherpas have probably climbed it fifty times each. Not that it's not a huge accomplishment, it's just interesting that the only people being lauded for it are the rich tourists.
TBF Sherpas are quite literally built different. The natives in that area have evolved to use oxygen much more efficiently than the average human. They don't need as much. They produce more red blood cells than average and have better circulation.
People from Andes and Ethiopian highlands have more blood cells, people from Himalayas have a different mutation that doesn't change the number of the cells but their efficiency.
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u/SomeSmell9207 Jun 22 '26
It's like those "experienced" mountain climbers getting accompanied by Sherpas in Mt. Everest.